The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has had a Welcome Student Refugee programme since 2015, when the refugee crisis reached a massive peak across Europe. The programme has been successful and will get a revamp at the start of the new academic year, come September 2020.
Parallel to the Welcome Student Refugee programme, another project developed from 2016 onward that has proved to be a huge success: ALEF – an innovative integration model through a social and linguistic impact on vulnerable children. It offers children aged 6-15 years extra-curricular education in neighbourhoods of Brussels with a high concentration of Muslims. The project, which currently runs in four locations in Brussels, has been an amazing success with 300 registered children every year. The new educational material (textbooks and exercise books) is being developed around Arab and Western cartoon characters. The first textbooks are already for sale. They cover almost all social and cultural topics. A neutral platform is being developed for Arab language and culture aimed at vulnerable children to stimulate individual development, a critical attitude and a sense of responsibility. The project relies on external funding, and there are plans to extend it towards setting up a minor in Arabic Language and Culture at the university, open to the whole VUB student body.
VUB has always been very active in the area of human rights, academic freedom and social engagement, values which are part of the university’s founding principles. In 2011, VUB joined the Scholars at Risk (SAR) network and works to protect researchers at risk and promote academic freedom. VUB also collaborates with ICORN through Passa Porta on the protection of writers. [please continue reading below the picture]
On 3 March 2020, VUB hosted The Sound of Freedom event to underline its support for scholars at risk, and for academic and artistic freedom. Rector Caroline Pauwels opened the event, where VRT journalist, VUB honorary doctor and Middle East specialist Rudi Vranckx took part in the debate alongside Mohammad Al Mohjoub, a scholar at risk at VUB. The musical element to the debate was provided by Khaled Al Rawi, an Iraqi lute player who met Rudi Vranckx back in September 2017 when he was reporting from war-torn Mosul.
In February 2018, Vrije Universiteit Brussel was the first Belgian university to join the UNHCR #WithRefugees coalition. As the VUB’s rector, Professor Caroline Pauwels explained at the time, “The refugee cause and the work this coalition stands for is a complete representation of the VUB’s core values and principles. Defending the rights of refugees and those who have been displaced due to war and conflict in their home countries, is something we strongly believe in.”
The message had already been made extra clear in November 2017 when VUB awarded an Honorary Doctorate to Dr Emma Bonino and the people of the island of Lampedusa (represented by Dr Pietro Bartolo) for this very reason: their unflinching work and commitment to help the refugee cause. And more recently, the VUB International Relations office, which manages the work on ALEF and the Welcome Student Refugee programme, as well as VUB’s involvement in the Scholars at Risk network, received a visit from world renowned opera singer Barbara Hendricks in January 2019, in her capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR.
When asked what she thought of the VUB’s programmes for and with refugees, she said: “I smile. Listening to these young refugee students and the change in their lives thanks to the opportunities they’ve been given… We know that there will be three more vital and productive citizens wherever they end up, because of the experience they received here, and that can only make me smile and make me happy.”